


a wreath full of stars

by flowercoast



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: 2020 beaujester prayer circle commences Now, F/F, Fluff, happy new years yall!, holiday fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:14:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22073107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowercoast/pseuds/flowercoast
Summary: “Wait!” Jester yells, pointing an accusatory finger at the confused faces huddled around the table. “Have you guys never celebrated Winter’s Crest before?”The awkward silence says it all.
Relationships: Jester Lavorre/Beauregard Lionett
Comments: 25
Kudos: 222





	a wreath full of stars

**Author's Note:**

> inspired greatly by @beaulavorregard's tweet about jester tying a mistletoe to her tail

The stairs creak and groan when Jester bounds down them, humming along to the happy little jingle the bells in her horns make as they swing with her boisterous movements. 

“Happy Winter’s Crest!” She yells, not caring one bit about who’s awake and who isn’t. 

Today’s a very special day because it’s Winter’s Crest, and, even though the sun doesn’t shine in Rosohna, Jester thinks that it’s probably shining pretty hard right now because. Winter’s freaking Crest is the coolest thing ever. 

An answering groan comes from the living room of the Xhorhouse, and as Jester rounds the corner she sees Fjord and Beau, sweating and on the floor. The couches and chairs are crowded off to the side, probably to make space for the makeshift weights that they’ve been using in their morning workouts. 

“Mornin’ Jes,” Beau greets from the floor, looking only a little winded. A lopsided grin graces her face, and Jester ignores the little flutter in her chest just from seeing it. 

“Good morning, Beau!” Jester skips into the room, deftly avoiding the large sacks filled with rocks in the middle of the floor. She stops next to Beau and Fjord, the latter lying facedown on the ground. “Are you okay, Fjord?” 

In response, the half orc lifts a tired arm to give a thumbs up. His arm drops heavily to the ground after a few seconds, and Jester winces, glancing towards a snickering Beau. 

Beau prods Fjord’s thigh with two fingers and ignores his groan. “Told you not to go too heavy on those squats, bro.” 

Fjord raises a lazy middle finger in the general direction of her voice. Beau kicks him. 

“Okay! Maybe, Fjord -“ Jester lays her hand down on his back, cringing when he actually _yelps_ in pain. She focuses on the Traveler, clutching her holy symbol in her other hand as his green magic ebbs through her fingers, healing Fjord. “Listen to Beau, next time, because I’m pretty sure she knows working out better than you, okay?” 

After the magic seeps into his bruised body, Fjord sighs tiredly. “Thanks.” He’s still smushed against the floor though, but there’s only so much Jester can do for that. 

Beau laughs, loudly. “I cannot believe you dropped that shit on your foot.” 

“Hey!” Fjord flips over onto his back so he can point an accusatory finger at Beau. He only flinches a little, which is… Progress. “Don’t act like I’m the only one who got fucked up this morning - I saw you drop that rock on your face!” 

“Hey, what, no -“ 

Except, now that Jester looks closer, she can see the long mottled bruise running from Beau’s jaw all the way up into her hairline, faint only because of being so recent. 

“Beau!” Jester frowns deeply. “Why didn’t you tell me?” 

After glaring daggers at Fjord, Beau’s pretty blue eyes meet her gaze. “I dunno, it’s not a big deal.” 

Jester purses her lips as Beau holds her stare, eyes clear and bright. It still worries her that Beau doesn’t think her injuries are important enough, because they really are, and Jester just wants to heal her and make sure she’s okay. It’s more infuriating than anything, really, but it’s sort of okay now because Beau is still staring at her with her blue eyes all warm and fond, even when Jester’s frowning more than she ever has before. 

“Come here,” Jester demands, grabbing Beau’s wrist and tugging her closer. The monk stumbles to standing, but her agility lets her keep balance as she sways. Jester sighs hard enough to ruffle her bangs and lays a hand on Beau’s cheek, feeling the magic surge through her fingers again. 

“Sorry,” Beau breathes out, eyes still soft and a little regretful. 

Jester’s frown drops slightly, seeing how genuinely hesitant Beau is. Her posture’s a little guilty, because they’ve had this talk before, about Beau talking more about when she’s hurt and Jester wanting her to. But Jester knows it’s still hard for Beau, to do that. She’s trying though. 

The corners of Jester’s mouth twitch up, and she lets her hand meld a little better against Beau’s cheek, fingers curling up to brush over the monk’s cheekbone. Beau leans into the touch wordlessly, her eyes fluttering. Her skin might be heating up a little too, though Jester’s not sure if she’s imagining that. 

“Just tell me next time, okay?” 

Beau looks away. “About that...” 

At Jester’s raised eyebrow, Beau lifts up her shirt, still not meeting her gaze. Along Beau’s ribs is a mottled mess of red, yellow, green, and purple bruises, all swirled together like paint on a canvas. It looks awful and painful and like Beau should probably have some broken bones. 

“Beau!” Jester gasps, eyes widening. Her hands dart down to press flat against Beau’s stomach, blushing only a little when she feels the muscles underneath her fingers tense and Beau sucks in a breath. Jester looks up worriedly. 

“Just a bruise,” Beau says, which worries Jester even more. The tiefling chews on her lip and returns her focus back to the bruise, which, to Jester’s knowledge, doesn’t seem to be hiding any broken bones, thankfully. She slides her palm around to encompass the area over Beau’s ribs. If she goes a little slower than usual to pass her fingers over Beau’s abs and feel the way they jump under her cold fingers then she’s only checking to make sure Beau doesn’t have any other injuries, of course. Obviously. 

With a last glance up towards Beau, whose smile is a little strained around the edges, Jester channels her healing magic into the bruise on her ribs, pumping spell after spell into her until her skin stops looking like a giant purple mess and feels regularly warm rather than overwarm. 

Beau groans blissfully, after, and Jester ignores the heating in her cheeks from hearing that. “Thanks, Jes.” Her eyes focus very pointedly on Jester, her blues filled with something significant and warm. “You’re amazing.” 

This time, there’s nothing Jester can do to stop the rising blush in her cheeks. Dark purple splotches dot high along her cheekbones, and she knows this because Beau’s smile, if possible, grows even fonder around the edges. Seeing that smile makes Jester all warm and fuzzy inside, like a million little happy people are doing a jig in there. 

Beau’s soft, now, warm and easy to hold onto in Jester’s hands. It’s simple for Jester’s palms to slide over her cooling skin, slipping from her slightly ticklish ribs (Beau hiccups a laugh, but coughs it away) around to her toned back. Her other hand trails up Beau’s abs again and Jester counts the amount of times that the muscles jump, wonder if it’s in time with her heart beat at all. If they are, Beau’s heart would be winning a race. All the while Jester’s holding Beau’s gaze, staring at her while this smooth and loud feeling overtakes her chest, her lungs. Her heart feels like it’s on fire, when she lifts her hand to bring it back up to Beau’s face, testing the area where her bruise was only five minutes ago. Beau’s still staring at her with those soft blue eyes, and it almost makes Jester want to look away, just for a moment, just so she can catch her breath. 

Beau leans into Jester’s hand, her cheek warm where it’s pressed into Jester’s palm. Blue fingers sweep across her cheekbone, drumming only a little against the reddened skin to see if she’s still bruised, before climbing higher, up into her eyebrow to trace over Beau’s new scar. It’s bumpy and jagged under Jester’s fingertips, a stark reminder of everything they’ve been through. Beau’s breath catches in her throat, which brings Jester’s gaze finally away from her eyes to follow the line of her throat, marvel at the way the blush creeps up her neck, very smoothly and prettily and - 

“Uh.” 

Fjord’s cough makes the world come crashing back into existence, and Jester retracts her hand from Beau’s face quickly, plastering on a wide smile to distract herself from reading too much into the way Beau’s face falls as the contact between them drops. 

Jester laces her hands together too, for good measure. It helps her - that and not looking directly at Beau, because all she really wants to do is reach back out and put her hands all over Beau’s warm skin and stare into her soft blue eyes, except she can’t because. Of many good reasons, all of which make Jester’s head hurt and her tail whip around agitatedly and altogether means a lot of sitting around and moping, which is never good, ever. 

“All better!” Jester chirps, ignoring the way Fjord’s eyes dart between the her and Beau, as if trying to figure out a puzzle. His mouth slants and his eyebrows are furrowed in the way Jester knows means that he’s figured something out that maybe he’s not supposed to know, or should’ve known, except Jester doesn’t know what he knows this time, when normally she does, and this time it’s about her, so. 

“I’m going to start breakfast!” She turns to step away, but something tugs her back. Jester looks behind her, and is surprised to see her tail, wound tight around Beau’s leg. Hurriedly, she unwinds it and bites on her tongue to keep from saying anything else. 

It’s the longest walk to the kitchen Jester’s ever experienced in her whole life. 

~~~

It’s only during breakfast that Jester realizes that neither Beau nor Fjord actually greeted her with a Winter’s Crest-themed sentiment. 

After this realization, Jester grabs everyone and drags them into the War Room, telling them to bring their breakfasts with them into the room, which is probably the only place to have this talk.

Jester looks over at each of her friends very seriously, her face a perfect picture of severity. Beau and Caleb have matching looks of concern on their faces, though Beau’s also seems affectionate in the way that’s been making Jester avoid looking at her all morning. The rest of them just look really confused, except for Caduceus who is confused but also mildly accepting as he eats some pastries Jester made two days ago. 

“You’re probably wondering why I called you in here today.” 

“You didn’t call us in here, we were dragged,” Nott points out through sips of cheap ale. Which - it’s the morning. Jester snatches the ale out of her hand and ignores Nott’s protests. 

“I have something very serious to point out. Something you all missed.” 

Yasha leans forward then, a hand resting on the blade she keeps on her at all times. “Is it dangerous?”

“Should we be worried?” Fjord this time, staring around at the windows of the room, as if to check if they’re actually locked. 

Caleb tenses too, his hand going to rest on Beau’s shoulder. Beau reflexively reaches a hand up to rest on his, her own muscles tensing. 

“It’s…” Jester pauses, intentionally dragging it out to watch their waiting faces. Then, on a dime, her face lights up. “Winter’s Crest!” 

For a moment, no one breathes. Then, the entire room shifts. 

Both Caduceus and Yasha have similar expressions of lost confusion, Fjord settles into an exasperated half-hearted glare, Caleb and Beau are still tense, and Nott tries to swipe back her ale. 

Jester dexterously moves her arm out of Nott’s reach before pouting. “C’mon you guys! Winter’s Crest! Woo-Hoo!” 

Yasha pumps her fist in the air, still lost. Cad blows on his bone flute. 

Jester lowers her arm. “Are you guys really not that excited?” 

“I’m sorry, Jes,” Beau breathes out, breaking the awkward silence first. Her shoulders drop down so they’re not bunched around her ears anymore, but Jester can still read the tension in her jaw - though it’s a different kind than was previously there. “It’s not my kinda thing.” 

Jester pouts. “But…” 

“Maybe you guys can celebrate it though,” Beau quickly adds, nodding towards everyone else. 

No one seems eager to agree to Beau’s suggestion and Jester deflates even more. Beau shoots her a sympathetic look. 

“I have a question.” Jester’s head shoots up so she can stare at Yasha, whose hand is in the air. 

“Yeah, Yasha?” 

“Um. What’s Winter’s Crest?” 

“Wait!” Jester yells, pointing an accusatory finger at the confused faces huddled around the table. “Have you guys never celebrated Winter’s Crest before?” 

The awkward silence says it all.

Jester frowns, the bells on her horns tinkling together aggressively as she turns to Beau. “Beau, I _know_ you’ve celebrated Winter’s Crest before!” 

The monk shrugs, her lips pursed and a scowl set deep on her face. “Eh.” She runs her hand over her hair. “My parents always dragged me to balls for Winter’s Crest. Never really got to stay at home and do all the presents-dinner-celebration thing.”

Fjord claps a hand down on her shoulder. “Yeah, never really got to celebrate it either where I’m from. Other kids and I would give each other some shiny rocks we found outside, though.” 

Jester’s heart sinks for them, and she crosses her arms, hands fisted in her own shirt to keep from reaching out to the both of them. She might just start sobbing about how terrible their childhoods were, which she knows that neither would appreciate.

“Caleb? Nott?” She turns to the two expectantly.

“I used to,” Nott says, softly, her ears drooping. Her hands are in her lap, no longer reaching for the cup still in Jester’s hands. Caleb’s ramrod straight next to her, staring at nothing in particular as his fingers scratch over his forearm. 

Jester’s heart _aches_ for her friends. Sometimes she forgets just how sad her friends lives have been, when the time they’ve spent together is so full and warm and happy. Well. Mostly. 

“Maybe we can celebrate this year?” Yasha, again, this time with a soft smile on her face. 

“I’ve never celebrated either,” Caduceus pipes in, laying a soothing hand on Jester’s arm. “We can start now.” 

Looking around at her friend’s open faces, the hope and openness to the idea coming through in their eyes, Jester feels her heart fill. She smiles, the sadness not quite gone from the curl in her lips but less present, now. 

“Perfect! Let’s all buy gifts for each other and meet back in like. 6 hours? 6 and a half hours! Then we can make a fire and eat super good food and give out presents and make our own Winter’s Crest!” Jester nods, already making plans in her head. “Last one back to the house is a rotten egg!” 

With that, Jester skips out of the room joyously, humming. Behind her, the room remains silent for only a moment before Beau says, very loudly, “Fuck being a rotten egg!” 

Jester hears loud footsteps before arms wrap around her middle from behind and pick her up. A joyous and unrestrained laugh bubbles from Jester as she’s swung around, feeling more than seeing the distinct presence of Beau behind her. Her heart swells and she squirms around in Beau’s arms to face her, watching delightedly as Beau’s blue eyes brighten up even more at seeing the joy on Jester’s face. 

Jester sticks her tongue out, breathless from giggling. Beau grins widely. 

“You a rotten egg, Jes?” 

Still giggling softly, Jester raises her hand to brush some stray strands of Beau’s hair behind her ear. “No way! You are.” Her palm stays pressed against Beau’s cheek. 

“I dunno.” Beau smiles softly at her, her eyes gentle even as her arms wrap around Jester more tightly. “We’re the last people left.” 

Jester frowns and peeks over Beau’s shoulder and - yeah, the War Room is empty. Not even the plates from breakfast remain, much less any sign of the rest of their friends, which is weird because Jester hadn’t even noticed them leave. She looks back to Beau, realization dawning on her face. “Wait, were you distracting me?” 

Beau’s smile turns a little more mischievous, the corners of her eyes crinkling with the force of her happiness. She winks at Jester, arms unwrapping around the tiefling as she steps back, towards the railing. 

“See you back at the house, Jes.” Beau salutes, then jumps straight over the railing. 

Jester rushes to check if Beau’s okay, that she hasn’t gotten _more_ bruises and injuries, and as she peers over the railing, Beau’s waving at her and smirking from where she’s crouched down on the ground level of the Xhorhouse. She laughs and points at the stairs, her teasing clear even if she’s not saying anything. The laughter rings around the house as she dashes out the door, leaving Jester alone with red cheeks and a racing heart on the second floor. 

“Oh, I’ll show you who’s a rotten egg.” Jester whispers. She dimension doors away. 

~~~

Jester is not the first one back, which really makes her upset for all of five minutes before she realizes that Beau was the last one, and therefore the rotten egg, even though she made the whole show of trying very hard not to be. It makes Jester begrudgingly forgive the monk’s cheating from earlier, but only after Beau gives Jester her present. 

“Gimme gimme!” Jester reaches out to the hastily wrapped package in Beau’s hands, eyes drawn to how big it is and how heavy it looks. 

Beau chuckles and holds it farther away from Jester. “After everyone else. They got here before me, anyways.” 

Jester pouts. “But you were last! And you totally cheated earlier, which is not cool, by the way.” 

“She has a point,” Fjord says, his feet kicked up on the coffee table as he stretches out on the couch, his own store bought presents crowded all over him like a blanket. 

“Shut up.” Beau half-heartedly gives him the middle finger, which he waves away. “Alright, okay, um.” She holds the present out to Jester, very deliberately looking away as her cheeks color. “Here you go.” 

“Aww, Beau.” Jester lets her fingers linger over Beau’s for a second longer than normal before taking the present from her. “You’re so sweet! Is this for me?” 

A smile curls over Beau’s lips and she huffs a laugh. “Yeah, Jes. It’s for you.”

Jester tears open the present excitedly, the paper under her fingers shredding apart easily as the present slowly appears from under the wrapping. She pauses in wonder when the whole thing is fully unwrapped. It’s a set of paints, new, fancy ones, with so many colors that Jester doesn’t even know the names of. 

“Oh Beau!” Jester tucks the whole thing under her arm, turning her attention back to Beau, who’s pointedly not looking anywhere near Jester. The blush is still sitting high on her cheeks, and it makes Jester’s heart sing. “Beau, I love it.” 

Beau finally looks at her, surprise written all over her face. “Yeah?” 

“Of course!” Jester steps closer to Beau and lays her hand softly on Beau’s wrist, feeling the monk’s pulse jump under her fingers. She stands on her toes and tugs Beau a little closer, just enough so she can kiss her overwarm cheek. If Jester’s lips land a little closer to the corner of Beau’s lips than strictly necessary than it’s completely unintentional, obviously. 

“Uh.” Beau’s whole face is flushed, now, which is totally unfair because it really just makes Jester want to kiss her even more. “No problem.” 

That overwhelming feeling sitting at the center of Jester’s chest threatens to sweep her up, so she turns away from Beau to look at the rest of their friends, all with their own presents around them. “More presents!” 

“I’ll go.” Yasha stands, her arms full of what look like very delicately wrapped boxes. 

She stops in the center of the room and looks around, a little lost. “Uh. Do I just -“ She shoves a package straight at Jester. 

“Yes!” Jester cheers. She tears into the package. And then the box. Both flutter to the ground in shreds, and Jester makes a mental note to force someone else to clean up later, because she can’t, not when this whole thing was her idea, duh. 

In her hands is a flower crown, the stems all delicately braided together and the flowers all different shades of blue. When Jester looks up again she sees that the rest of the Mighty Nein have flower crowns in their hands too. Beau’s is blue like hers, but Nott’s and Fjord’s are both green. Cad’s is pink, and Caleb’s is orange. 

“Thank you, Yasha!” Jester sings, skipping over to the barbarian to sweep her into a hug. Yasha laughs softly as she hugs Jester back. 

After stepping away and placing the flower crown atop her head, Jester claps her hands together. “Next!” 

From then on, it’s a whirlwind of presents. Beau finishes off the rest of her presents to the others: Fjord gets a “How To: Workout for Dummies” book, Caleb unwraps a soft scarf, Yasha receives a book of flowers types and their meanings, Nott gets a whole bunch of spell components, and Cad now owns three separate bags of special moss teas. 

Fjord goes next, and his are wrapped more carefully than Beau’s. It’s still plain brown wax paper, but it’s the thought that counts, really. From Fjord, Jester gets a pretty little unicorn teacup set. Beau opens hers and it’s a bobblehead of someone who looks a lot like her, but isn’t really her, and when it moves it says “Kick me I’m dumb!”. Nott gets a whole bag of buttons, and Yasha gets another flower book, which causes Beau to accuse him of stealing her idea. They bicker about it for a couple of minutes before Caleb steers then back on track, and then Fjord is giving out his last two presents. 

These two seem the most thought out by far, which isn’t a dig in any way at all, but it just makes Jester curious and very happy to see the soft look of fondness that crosses over Fjord’s face when he gives his presents to Cad and Caleb. Caleb’s present is a very expensive looking quartz circlet, complete with matching bracelets. Fjord says they’re for seeing in the dark, so Caleb doesn’t have to use his light orbs if he doesn’t want to. The look on Caleb’s face is. A lot. So Fjord’s already blushing, but when Cad’s gift rolls around, he blushes even harder. It’s time it’s a set of pretty mithral bugs, all stone and shiny when they’re held up against the light. They actually summon bugs, which makes Cad light up with a wide grin. 

When Beau asks Fjord how much those two things actually cost him - which Jester is curious about too, because they seemed super super expensive compared to everything else and kind of makes Jester wonder just how much money Fjord has left anyways - Fjord just blushes and looks away.

Nott’s next, and when she comes up Caleb follows her to the center of the room. She very unceremoniously shoves the presents to the person they’re addressed to, but judging by the handwriting and wrapping, it’s clear that they’re also Caleb’s presents. Jester’s never had a joint present before, and the curiosity and glee shows clear on her face when she opens up the bag Nott gives her. Jester’s present is a very pretty lollipop figurine, glossy and novel in the way that porcelain dolls are. It shines a magical red in the firelight, and apparently it’s charmed to make sure Jester takes less damage whenever she gets hit, which is super duper cool. 

Caleb gives Beau a more magically enhanced version of her circlet, and this time it actually looks more her style, with deep blue gemstones and leather straps. 

Caleb and Nott give Yasha a very nice looking leather armband, enchanted to make her stronger. Fjord receives a sailors hat from Nott, and a very unique looking spyglass from Caleb and apparently it’s “very magical and mysterious” according to Fjord, but he won’t let Jester look through his spyglass, no matter how many times she tries to take it from him. 

Caduceus’ gift is unique because Caleb points at Beau and says she helped, too, and when Jester looks in her direction, Beau is waving the mention away nonchalantly, even though a modest blush is rising on her cheeks. Caleb whips out another bone flute, except this time it has a slight greenish tinge to it, and it looks way bigger than the one Caduceus already has. Caleb explains that he and Beau had been working on this since before the Winter’s Crest celebration, and they were just waiting for the right time to give it to Caduceus. Caleb hands the instrument over and says that it “can summon things and make you more powerful” which Beau snorts at. Caduceus’ grin is so wide and excited that Jester can’t help but smile along, too. 

After Caleb and Nott is Caduceus, who is still reverently holding his new bone flute. With his other hand he hands out small little bags that look very adorable, like those little candy sacks Jester would buy from stores in Nicodranas, except this time the bags smell similar to earth and aromatic spices. Jester opens hers up to find an assortment of what looks like trinkets and a tangle of several different plants and herbs, all mashed together in the way that screams homemade and heartfelt, just like all of Jester’s favorite presents are. She reaches into the pouch and grabs out a couple of small beads, string, bells, and plant looking things, which, after a thorough inspection, are mistletoe. They all glow faintly with some sort of pulsating green energy, and when Jester jingles one of the bells it echoes around the room. 

“These are super cool Caduceus!” Jester hurriedly slides one of each item onto the string and ties it to her tail, the bells and beads jingling together in time with the trinkets on her horns when she starts wriggling around. 

“Thanks, Jester.” Caduceus comes over, holding a pot of tea. “Those’ll keep you safe from harm.”

“Wait, really! Like. Physically?” Jester shakes the bag around.

Cad scratches at his chin. “Sort of.”

Jester’s curious about what he means, because sometimes when Cad says stuff she only halfway gets what he really means to say, even when most of the time she really does get the gist of what he’s saying, but she’s distracted from asking any more questions when Nott runs up and jumps in the space between them. 

“Next present! Your turn, Jessie!” Nott’s eyes are wide and overblown, her smile a little more toothy than normal.

“Um. Nott, are you -” 

“Next present!”

Jester’s own presents are a mix of drawings and little things she made with her magical paint. For Cad and Fjord, she made mementos to the Wildmother both in her drawings and her paint. The catch, which makes her giggle about madly when she hands the gifts over, is that there are little dicks hidden in both the statuettes and the drawings. It’s like a built in little hide-and-seek game, which, really, just factually, makes Jester’s gift the most fun one. 

Caleb gets a drawing of his parents, drawn to the best of Jester’s knowledge. The picture makes him freeze and tense, and for a moment Jester’s worried that she did something really really wrong, except Caleb just breathes out and looks up, not quite smiling but not quite unhappy either. There’s a gratefulness in his eyes that Jester knows how to read, and she hands him the figurine of Frumpkin that she made him. 

Next is Nott, who gets a drawing of her, Yeza, and Luc. Nott’s magical paint drawing though, is an arrow that Jester made and then dipped in a super secret ingredient that she bought from a store that’s supposed to make the arrow way more dangerous. Jester hands the bottle of the stuff over too, because she doesn’t really know what it is. 

Yasha unwraps a drawing of Zuala and a little sculpture of a flower, and Jester hugs her when the aasimar sniffles a little. 

Lastly is Beau, and Jester winks at her when she hands over a fully-colored drawing of Beau in combat. The magic paint gift that Jester gives her is a blue ribbon, starting off the exact shade of blue in Beau’s eyes at one end, before fading into a blue more reminiscent of Jester’s skin. If both of them blush when Jester hands it over, it’s because the fire that Caduceus stokes in the corner is making the room hotter than normal.

After every gift is handed out, and everyone’s hugged, the Mighty Nein spend a good portion of their evening just talking and drinking tea while the fire crackles on in the living room.

~~~

Jester finds Beau, a couple of hours later, sprawled out under the bright, tall, tree of the Xhorhouse, her face tilted up towards the dark, lightless sky.

“Knock knock,” Jester announces, her knuckles rapping against the wooden wall. 

Beau turns her head, and Jester can see the soft golden light of the lanterns from the trees framing her face, softly smoothing out the edges of her profile like a hazy glow. Jester smiles at the sight, a warmth brewing in her chest. 

“Hey, Jes.” A hand, unwrapped now, because Beau always unwraps her hands when she gets home, beckons her closer lazily. “You wanna join me? ‘M trying to count how many lights you two put up.” 

Jester makes her way over to her prone friend and sits just close enough so their thighs are touching, feet knocking together as Jester stretches her legs out. “There’s a whole bunch. We put like, enough lanterns in there to probably light up a whole street full of houses.” 

Beau points up at the tree, not at any particular spot but she squints anyways like she is. “Those three lanterns kinda look like a dick all bunched up like that.” 

“Where?” Quickly, Jester lies down on the ground, her head near Beau’s so she can see where the dick is.

“Right there.” 

“... Beau, I can’t see it.” 

“Ah, here.” Beau gently grabs Jester’s hand, her fingers warm and touch light as she guides one of Jester’s pointer fingers up into the tree, until Jester is pointing at a set of lanterns that do actually look dick-shaped from down here. 

Jester laughs, and hopes that it’ll cover up the way her pulse is pounding, and how much she both doesn’t want but also wants Beau to feel the rapid thud of it under her steady fingers, which still linger on her wrist and isn’t super distracting at all. 

“You’re so silly Beau.” Trying not to be suspicious, Jester pulls her hand away, letting it drop to the floor in the empty space between their bodies. Her wrist still tingles, the phantom touch of Beau’s warm fingers lingering, and her other hand rubs at those empty spots idly. 

Beau just hums in response. 

They lapse into an easy silence. Beau’s warmth heats Jester enough to cause her eyes to droop a little, and she curls a bit more into Beau, eliminating any of the empty spaces between them as she loops their arms together and wraps her tail around Beau’s leg. 

Jester’s just about to fall asleep like that, all tangled up in her, before Beau breaks the silence.

“Hey, Jes?”

“Hm?” 

“I gotcha something.”

“Yeah, I know Beau, your present was great! I love my new paints.” Jester snuggles in closer. 

“Um, I meant -“ Beau shifts to stand up, and Jester whines a little sadly at her pillow being taken away. “I meant I got you something else.” 

“What!” Wide awake now, Jester stands too, shuffling even closer to Beau, who’s rubbing the back of her neck and blushing, those blue eyes fixed firmly on the floor. “What’d you get me?” 

Instead of answering, Beau reaches into her bag. Jester watches intently, eyes sweeping over the red blush sitting along Beau’s cheeks that makes Jester’s heart constrict and the feeling of butterflies or dancers in her stomach increase tenfold. It’s endearing, which kind of means confusing in the long run, because Jester’s still not sure what she’s supposed to think when this big feeling is over Beau, her best friend. 

“Here,” Beau says, cutting through Jester’s train of thought. In her hands is a carefully wrapped package, more neat than the other gifts that Beau gave earlier. Jester kind of wants to ask Beau if she did that messy wrapping on purpose, because there’s a lot of things that Beau does that she only does for Jester, and maybe this is one of those things, but Jester also doesn’t want to break the quiet anticipation that’s settled over the two of them, so she just reaches out to take the presents.

With gentle fingers, Jester unwraps the gifts, careful to not tear into the package like she did with the other presents. This type of gift feels like it needs that kind of treatment. Or maybe its just Jester who thinks it’s just more important, that it deserves her softer care. 

Jester gasps out when she finally sees the contents of the gift. “It’s beautiful…”

It’s a necklace, gleaming in the lantern light. It’s a sterling silver pendant of the Traveler’s holy symbol, except instead of the empty space that’s usually present where the winding road meets the open door, a ruby sits, suspended in the air. It’s a beautiful gleaming red. Jester holds the whole thing in her hands, reverently stroking along it’s sapphire studded silver road and grazing her fingers against the wide curving arc of the door. It looks painstakingly perfect, and Jester can practically feel the work that this whole thing took. 

“Beau…” Jester looks up, at a loss for words. Beau is staring at her, something akin to a scared anticipation in her eyes. Which. It’s silly that Beau is so scared because what Jester has in her hands right now is the most stunning thing she’s ever seen, and that’s including all of the pastries, gems, or jewelry Jester’s encountered over the years. The warmth in her belly increases tenfold. 

Beau rubs the back of her neck, an embarrassed tell that Jester knows very well. “Do you like it?”

“You made this?”

“Um. Yeah -”

Jester practically lunges at Beau and wraps her arms around the monk, squeezing tight like it’ll convey just how much she loves the gift. How much she loves Beau. 

“It’s perfect,” Jester breathes out against Beau’s neck, holding on tighter when she feels Beau hug her back. “I love it, Beau.” 

“Yeah?” Beau murmurs right against Jester’s ear, tone softened with adoration but still laced in doubt. Jester frowns and pulls away, not far enough to break her hold on Beau, but just far enough so Beau can see the sincerity in her eyes.

“Of course, Beau. This is literally the best gift I’ve ever gotten. Ever.”

A smile creeps across Beau’s face. “More than the paints?”

“Pff. Those paints have nothing on this.” Jester withdraws a little to hold up the necklace in the space between them, cool and light in her palm as she knocks her hand into Beau’s shoulder playfully. “You didn’t have to do this for me, though. The paints were amazing already and this is…” 

One of Beau’s hands leaves Jester’s waist, and Jester only mourns its absence for a moment before her hand closes around Jester’s, the warmth of it contrasting smoothly against the metal. “I’d do anything for you, Jes.”

The lights twinkle and sparkle in the blues of Beau’s eyes, all soft and warm and open. Jester’s breath catches in her throat and her heart stutters, the warmth in her gut spreading all around like she’s on fire, and Jester is sure that the flush of purple-blue is creeping up her neck the longer she stares into Beau’s adoring face. 

Jester clears her throat and looks away, turning around in Beau’s grasp abruptly. “Help me put it on?” 

Soft fingers take the medallion from Jester’s palm, lingering only for a moment before unclasping the silver chain and pulling the necklace around Jester’s neck, loose enough that the pendant rests just in the hollow between her collarbones. Beau’s hands are warm where they brush against Jester’s neck to adjust the necklace, leaving a blazing trail on Jester’s ever-cool blue skin. Jester breathes in deep, loud in the quiet space that’s settled between them as Beau presses her palm to Jester’s exposed shoulder, the clasp of the necklace fixed so that the pendant rests coldly against her slowly warming skin. Beau’s palm rests there, longer than necessary, and Jester tells herself to calm down because this moment is so quiet that Jester is sure that Beau can hear just how hard her heart is racing.

“There,” Beau whispers, voice rough. 

Jester turns uncertainly, her skin tingling where Beau’s smooth palm slides against it, and her breath catches when her eyes find Beau’s. The air is warm and quiet, broken only by their soft breathing and the faint magical hum from the lights above.

The realization comes to Jester then. If the voices in her head dissuading her from crushing on Beau were loud before, they’re silent now. Maybe it’s because there’s something slotting into place, like one of those elaborate puzzles Jester used to play with in Nicodranas. It’s the feeling of her mother singing to her, and Jester joining in. It’s the beautiful addition of something more. 

There’s nothing like this in the whole world, or, if there is, Jester doesn’t care to find it. Not now. Beau is still staring at her with a warmth that makes Jester’s chest burst, and everything that Jester ever doubted about her feelings washes away, because it’s Beau who’s smiling softly at her and Beau who settles her warm hands around Jester’s waist and Beau who pulls her closer, and Beau, Beau, Beau. 

Jester grins, feeling lighter than ever. She steps closer to Beau and lets her tail arc high above her head, the bells jingling softly. “Hey Beau?”

“Yeah, Jes?” Beau is still so soft and gooey around the edges, a little like a marshmallow with how golden the light frames her hair. The frame of her is a little fuzzy, exactly the feeling in Jester’s chest. 

“Mistletoe,” Jester whispers, pointing up.

Above their heads is Jester’s tail, and dangling from it, the mistletoe on a string.

Beau’s eyes are wide when Jester meets her gaze, almost disbelieving. “You sure?” 

Jester pulls Beau closer and leans in, hovering just an inch away from Beau’s lips as her eyes slide shut. “Positive.”

Beau closes the distance between them.

Her lips are soft, softer than Jester ever thought they would be. Jester’s arms wrap around Beau’s neck to pull her even closer, the fluttering in her stomach growing louder and louder until it’s all she can think about. Well. That and the way Beau’s arms wind around Jester’s waist, tugging her closer too, like if they try hard enough they can just meld into each other like one warm pile of happiness, and really, that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world - in fact it’s looking like a high contender for best idea when Beau tilts her head to change the way their lips fit together. She tastes a lot like the apple cider they had earlier, but more overwhelmingly like the cinnamon pastries that Jester and Cad made. Jester wants more. 

Beau pulls away first, much to Jester’s disappointment. She tries to chase after Beau, her eyes still closed, until Beau’s soft huff of laughter draws her back to the present and her eyes flutter open again, back to Beau’s face.

“Hi,” Jester says, grinning. Her tail wraps itself around Beau’s ankle, just to keep another point of contact between them.

Beau’s eyes twinkle. “Hi back.” 

Jester shifts to move her hand from Beau’s neck, sweeping it across her jaw and cheek before tucking a stray hair. Her hand rests against Beau’s overwarm cheek, fingers smoothing over a blushing cheekbone. 

Beau smiles, and Jester can feel the movement of it, watches as her eyes crinkle happily and those blues grow brighter, the exact shade of Jester’s favorite paints. Beau’s type of happy always makes Jester feel a little lighter. Especially when her teeth show and she’s actually happy, when she allows herself to let down her defenses and show the soft squishy insides that only Jester gets to see - well, sometimes the others, but mostly Jester, which makes Jester a little happy and a little sad at the same time. The happiness though, always wins out.

Beau’s blue eyes twinkle under the lights of the tree, the corners of her lips set into a softly lit warmth that makes the butterflies in Jester’s stomach flitter about wildly. Leaning into Jester’s palm, Beau turns her head slightly to kiss the inside of her wrist, and Jester flushes, warm from head to toe. “I’m in love with you, Jester Lavorre.”

Jester’s breath catches, her heart to stuttering like she’s on a sugar rush. It’s the same kind of feeling. The warm, full, overwhelming feeling of sweetness - that’s what this moment is. The grin on Jester’s face is so wide it hurts, and she pushes up onto her toes to press her lips to Beau’s.

Beau wraps her strong arms around Jester’s waist, the warmth of her settling so much inside of Jester at once that she feels like she’s floating, even when it’s grounding her at the same time. All Jester knows right now is the soft slide of her lips against Beau’s, and how the smell of leather and firewood and cinnamon curls around them. Jester winds her fingers in Beau’s hair, and practically melts into her, completely comfortable and at peace. 

They break away only to breathe, and when Jester’s purple eyes flutter back open, Beau is staring at her, her lips red and hair slightly mussed with a grin lighting up her face. 

It takes everything in Jester to not just lean back in. Instead, she leans up to press her forehead gently to Beau’s. “I love you too,” She whispers.

Beau steps closer to Jester, her nose nudging Jester’s with how close they are. “Good Winter’s Crest?” 

Jester winds her arms more securely around Beau’s neck. “The best.”

**Author's Note:**

> SORRY that this is so late but this MONSTER got way longer than i intended it to be and (shameless self promo) i was busy writing my yasha/reani fic before 2020 that i didnt have time to get this up n posted rip. but anyways happy 2020, year of the beaujester!  
> written while listening to blood bank by bon iver


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